Battery blueprint promises green energy storage

Device could cheaply bank power from renewable sources

A new battery that relies on cheap organic molecules could help stockpile energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind power for use on cloudy and breezeless days.

Scientists have grappled with ways to bank power from intermittent energy sources because municipal power grids demand a continuous flow.

The new battery relies on quinones, common chemicals found in many forms of life that help hold energy for later use, Harvard researchers report in the Jan. 9 Nature. Previous designs of similar batteries have used metal compounds, which can be expensive, rather than quinones.

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